X-Plus XP330074 Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Riesen "Zero" Fighter - Aircraft Carrier Zuikaku, Pearl Harbor, December 1941 (1:144 Scale)"We have resolved to endure the unendurable and suffer what is insufferable." - Japanese Emperor Hirohito speaking to the Japanese people after the atomic bombings, August 1945

The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a light-weight carrier-based fighter aircraft employed by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945.

It is universally known as Zero from its Japanese Navy designation, Type 0 Carrier Fighter (Rei shiki Kanjo sentoki), taken from the last digit of the Imperial year 2600 (1940), when it entered service. In Japan it was unofficially referred to as both Rei-sen and Zero-sen. The official Allied code name was Zeke (Hamp for the A6M3 model 32 variant); while this was in keeping with standard practice of giving boys' names to fighters, it is not definitively known if this was chosen for its similarity to "Zero".
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Dimensions:
Wingspan: 3 inches
Length: 2-1/2 inches

Release Date: June 2011

Historical Account: "Fortunate Crane" - Zuikaku (Japanese: "Fortunate Crane") was a Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Her planes took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor that formally brought the United States into the Pacific War, and she fought in several of the most important naval battles of the war, finally being sunk in the battle off Cape Engao. One of six carriers to participate in the Pearl Harbor attack, Zuikaku was the last of the six to be sunk in the war (four in the Battle of Midway and Shōkaku in the Battle of the Philippine Sea).